1. Valuing People Now and Ethnicity
Scott Watkin
Co-National Director for Learning Disabilities
Debbie Robinson
Valuing People Now London Regional Programme Lead

2. Presentation Content What do we know?
What does Valuing People Now say?
The ethnicity work
The challenge for us all
So how do we change practice?
Some examples of best practice
For further information

3. What do we know?
People with learning disabilities from BME communities often experience ‘double discrimination’
In some rural areas people from black and minority communities are less visible because there are very few of them; services may not meet their needs

4. What do we know?
People often receive insufficient and inappropriate services due to:
lack of cultural sensitivity
wrong assumptions
language barriers
discrimination

5. What do we know?
There are increasing numbers of children and young people from black and minority ethnic communities with more profound disabilities and special educational needs

6. What do we know?
Information and recording systems do not always seek to identify or reliably record numbers of people of learning disabilities from black and ethnic minority ethnic communities
Often, not enough is known about local communities when planning services

7. What do we know?
We have the law to support equality of access, but people are still not fully included:
In a 2006/7 survey, 48% of partnership boards stated that they had not carried out a race equality impact assessment
In a 2008 report, only 30% of partnership boards were regularly involving anyone from a black and minority ethnic community

8. What does Valuing People Now say?
Work programme to raise the issues with all agencies to ensure local services are designed and commissioned to support genuine inclusion of people from black and minority ethnic communities
This will include working with the National Advisory Group on Learning Disability and Ethnicity (NAGLDE)

9. What does Valuing People Now say?
Appoint someone to lead the work around ethnicity
Revise and republish ‘A Framework for Action on Ethnicity’ for partnership boards
Ensure people from black and minority ethnic communities benefit from all work programmes

10. The Ethnicity Work
We are working with NAGLDE on a programme of work that includes:
Strengthening NAGLDE as a national forum with elected members
Strengthening the links between NAGLDE, the National Forum of People with Learning Difficulties and the National Valuing Families Forum
Identifying and strengthening regional capacity to deliver outcomes

11. The Ethnicity Work
Identifying best practice across the country and sharing it via some ‘events’
Commissioning work to identify best practice and gaps in advocacy for people with learning disabilities from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities
Commissioning work around family advocacy including BME families

12. The Ethnicity Work
Working with black carers organisations to ensure they are aware of the needs of family carers of people with learning disabilities
Revising ‘A Framework for Action on Ethnicity’ for partnership boards
The appointment of someone in the national team to lead this work and to make sure that people from black and minority ethnic communities benefit from all work programmes

13. The Challenge for us all
Making sure that the voices of people with learning disabilities and family carers from BME communities are represented at all levels
Raising awareness and changing practice on the ground so that all people get the services they need – and in culturally sensitive ways

14. So how do we change practice?
Building blocks and opportunities:
Healthcare for All:
data and information collection – joint strategic needs assessments (JSNA) and individual care assessments
Direct Enhanced Service – health checks and ‘reasonable adjustments’
Public Health Observatory

15. So how do we change practice?
Building blocks and opportunities:
Learning disability performance and self assessment framework
Equality Impact Assessments (EQIA)
New annual self assessment reporting for Partnership Boards

16. So how do we change practice?
Building blocks and opportunities:
Individual plans
person centred plans
health action plans
personal budget support plans
care plans
- Information, choice and involvement in decision making are essential to empowering people

17. Some examples of best practice
Camden
local advocacy services accessible to, and appropriate for BME communities
Newham
South Asian women’s drop in sessions to support person centred planning

18. Some examples of best practice
Redbridge and Waltham Forest
funding a paid BME inclusion worker with a learning disability to support people to be involved in local service planning
Greenwich
recruitment of development worker to help local teams to meet the needs of people across diverse ethnic communities

19. For further information
National Advisory Group on Learning Disability and Ethnicity
National Learning Disability and Ethnicity Network
Ethnicity Training Network

20. Thank you for listening
Questions
Thank you for listening
Any questions?